This disclosure relates to coating equipment and, more particularly, to a coating apparatus and method that facilitate depositing a coating on a substrate.
Physical vapor deposition (“PVD”) is one common method for coating a substrate, such as a metallic coating or a ceramic coating on gas turbine engine airfoils. For instance, the coating may be a protective coating or a coating for promoting adhesion. One type of PVD process utilizes an electron beam gun to melt and vaporize a source material contained within a crucible. The vaporized source material condenses and deposits onto the substrate as the coating. Although generally effective, angled surfaces and non-line-of-sight surfaces relative to the crucible may not be uniformly coated or may be poorly coated. Moreover, improvements to existing PVD equipment for efficiently and cost-effectively forming multi-layer coatings are desirable.